Customer Reviews

Meade ETX90EC Telescope w/ UHTC, Autostar Controller (497) and Tripod (884)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is my second telescope and I took the opportunity of the Meade special offers. Shipping arrived on time, I was a little bit worried about shipping such an equipment, but packaging was great.
Strongly recommending buying the hard case.
This is a wonderful telescope, very easy to use, and I recommend this for anyone, even beginners. Calibration is easy, just a few clicks on the Autostar, and then you can start the great show. Planets and objects are bright and offer fantastic contrast (buy the optionnal UHTC it's worth).
Prepare not to sleep at all the first few nights, but you'll be amazed at what you can see.

Rate the Optics as exceptional on ETX90EC w/UHTC are near excellent!! Easily see the north star companion (9th magnitude), for the 1st time watched a Jupiter Shadow Eclipse (Jupiter's moon Io is prolific casting its lunar shadow on Jupiters surface) , small in my 97X, but jet black circle, beautiful !! Focusing is abit coarse, but fast ! Watched the Jupiter eclipse between two street lights !! Two Dark Bands on Jupiter stand out well, hint of polar markings, the bands are irregular show hints of detail !! Large Red Spot shows easily when in view. Saturn is low in horizon now, tho division not visible large Jet Black area between Planet and Rings ! Deep Sky Show Objects as M13 (Beautiful Huge Globular), M27 Dumbell Nebula appears elongated, the Goto Autostar Feature makes finding M5 (is located by itself with very few guide stars) a snap ! Very Strongly Suggest using a 40MM wide view eyepiece as makes life easier in the alignment process and Goto feature, note we are using a longer plus F/13 focal length. Also may need a 9MM or shorter eyepiece to reach over 100X for Planetary and the Smaller Deep Sky. Planet Uranus is a nice disc even in the 40MM 30X eyepiece ! Many of the Globular Clusters are easy, as well as some of the brighter Galaxies. Found two fantastic items that I wouldn't do without, a Palm IIIc with the Planetarium Program gives a fantastic visual star map, great visual aid at the scope, can find this on eBay, Planetarium is a Shareware about $24 and can purchase the Palm IIIC around $60 to $70 used. Last as dislike the small finder I purchased a Green Laser for coarse finding, as leaves a nice beam (not just a spot but a trailing beam!!) in night sky greatly makes things easier in lining up the guide stars using Autostar. Simply Strap it on with Large Rubber Bands ! Can find this here on Amazon under $70 (a good buy), as retail for $129 ! This is not a toy as very bright so use w/caution. Not unsual to see over 36 to plus 40 Deep Sky objects in just over an hour !! Star images are nice and compact, have owned a F/10 6 inch reflector, 6 inch Dynamax Schmidtt Cassegrain, but the ETX blows them away, fantastic, Best WARREN ..<>..

Udate: One year later now viewed 107 of the 110 famed Messier Deep Sky, including NGCS, Bubble Nebula, Clown Nebula, Cats-Eye Nebula, and Jupitor's Ghost, Wonderful Portable Telescope and Goto is Fantastic, Has Very Sharp Images ! Last currently observing Mars during AM Hours, Early August could see the Polar Cap, even looked eliptical, plus 200X using 6mm ortho. Warren .<>.

First Rate myself as a casual observor, wanted maximum portability, and the ETX90EC certainly does !! First night aligned the finder and used manual control, only using 47X Jupiter was beautiful and moons snapped into view nicely. Over all image(s) look Good to Very Good, nice and compact stars as they should be ! 2nd night (using Autostar) able to align on the 3rd attempt, viewed more in 1 hour, infact lost count ! Was locating many from horizon to horizon, simply amazing feat ! Noisy in operation and dislike the small finder and needs more info on use, otherwise would give 5 stars !! Was Pure Fun, LOVE IT !! Update, now just over a year viwed nearly all the Messier Deep Sky Objects 107 ! This is in a nice open area but not a true dark sky, infact Little Dipper stars usually not visible, except for the North Star. For a grab and go, this is it ! Great!

As a newby to star gasing, both my wife and my knowledge of the night sky was pritty much confined to IDing the moon. We found the autostar system easy to setup and use (once we could identify the north star). We learned more in two hours about the univers that either of us had learned in our more than fifty years. The autostar system can take you on a tour of the night sky that is extremly interesting. The scope its self is a delicate piece of equipment (as you would expect) I don't think it needs to be carried on a pillow but a carry case would be a good idea. At this point, eigth weeks out it looks like a few eyepieces and filters are going to be the only accessories we will be looking for right away. This is all the star gazing system we expect to need any time soon.

I have never had such a bad experience with customer service. My telescope broke after two uses. The horizontal drive mechanism is stripped. If I could get my telescope repaired someplace else, I would. I am absolutely furious at the complete failure on the part of Meade's organization to honor their commitment to repair my ETX-125. They took my money over two months ago now and have done absolutely nothing in return for my $150. This is the most pathetic interaction I have ever had with any purchase in my entire life.

I purchased a warranty plan from Meade 8/29/06. The charge was promptly placed on my credit card, and that is the only thing they have ever done for me. I called a month later for my shipping boxes. No reply. I called a week later and left another message, No reply. I called on 10/19/06, no reply. On 10 23 I talked to someone personally and she promised to look into the matter, took my info and said the manager would qet the messaqe. NO reply. On 10 24 I left a message again. Someone finally returned my call and said he'd send boxes. SINCE THEN I HAVE HEARD NOTHING!

I might as well throw my $1200 telescope in the trash since it broke after two uses and thanks to their bungling I can't get it fixed.

A nice telescope that will disappoint. Polar alignment is almost impossible because of the location of the finder scope. Without polar alignment capabilities you can forget about photography. If you insist on buying this model then go ahead and order an angled finder scope for another $60. The straight through finder scope that comes with the ETX-90 is useless since you can't see through it while aligning on Polaris.

The optics are excellent with no noticeable color fringes.

The AutoStar locator/tracker leaves much to be desired. After spending many minutes performing a polar alignment, the AutoStar reset itself and "Initialized". Did the alignment again, moved to Mars for some photography and the AutoStar "Initialized" again. I found that a light tap on the side of the scope caused it to initialize - losing all alignment setting. Apparently there is a loose connector/cable inside it!!!

I suggest buying a Celestron.

the reason for one star is not the telescope it self or any part of it .... i like it its an excellent choice for a bigenner
but the offer represented above is only the etx90 with the autostar controller(497) with out the Tripod(884)
beware if you pay 499$ for this offer dont think you will get the whole set, no.even if you complain they will replace with the same order
buy them separate , it would be better

poor amazon

I was under the impression that I had ordered an ETX-90AT (w. UHTC coatings)package for $499.00 (which is a $150.00 savings over standard price. I wondered if it was too good to be true. When I opened my package, the box said ETX-90EC on the outside and showed a picture of an 495 hand controller. I was dissapointed till I opened the box and saw an 497 AutoStar controller (w. Nov 2005 rev) and a deluxe field tripod (with carrying case). There was a note inside that said that this telescope had upgrades. The manual was for an ETX-90AT. I am extremely happy with the deal that I got and will use the money saved to by additional eyepieces. I wish there had been a deal on the ETX-125EC along the same lines. The only drawback is the small aperature of the 90mm, but it was a way to get a "GOTO" scope cheap. Maybe I'll get the 125 later if I like this one.